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Kikaha
HFNY
Member Posts: 5,220 
What percentage would you say Kikaha has played his snaps on the left side as a "Buck"? I was reading an article about Colin Kaepernick and how much worse he is throwing the ball when rolling to his left. Since we are going to play mobile QBs during our Pac-12 slate like Mariota, Hundley, Taylor Kelly, and Anu Solomon, maybe this is what Kwiatowski had in mind when installing his D.
While Wilcox was disemboweled @ BC, I started thinking about his 2013 D having Kikaha at WDE and Littleton at Buck (what he calls "Rush") and how poorly we defended mobile QBs in 2013 (except for BJ Denker, which was in an absolute downpour and he wasn't that good anyway).
The chart below shows regular-season career stats for Kaepernick when targeting players outside the yard-line numbers near each sideline on passes made from outside the pocket:
Target Area Left Sideline Right Sideline
Comp-Att 11-33 46-86
Pct. 33.3 53.5
Yards/Att 4.9 6.5
TD-INT 2-1 7-1
Passer rating 57.9 96.1
Total QBR 28.6 68.7
While Wilcox was disemboweled @ BC, I started thinking about his 2013 D having Kikaha at WDE and Littleton at Buck (what he calls "Rush") and how poorly we defended mobile QBs in 2013 (except for BJ Denker, which was in an absolute downpour and he wasn't that good anyway).
The chart below shows regular-season career stats for Kaepernick when targeting players outside the yard-line numbers near each sideline on passes made from outside the pocket:
Target Area Left Sideline Right Sideline
Comp-Att 11-33 46-86
Pct. 33.3 53.5
Yards/Att 4.9 6.5
TD-INT 2-1 7-1
Passer rating 57.9 96.1
Total QBR 28.6 68.7
Comments
The first thing you have to do as a QB and a Center is set the protection when you get to the line of scrimmage. Usually it involves identifying the middle linebacker and figuring out how many down lineman there are and how many are showing rush, but with a player like Kikaha going all over the LOS and even lining up on WR's in the slot it gets difficult for them to set their protections. They MUST account for Kikaha where ever he is.
If he is lined up on the slot he could still come and blitz, or if he is lined up right over the tackle he could drop out into coverage. Obviously we know Kikaha can get to the QB, but even if he isn't rushing he creates big problems for the offense. If he is standing up just shaded off the tackle or TE the offense is likely going to slide their protection towards him. If he doesn't even rush on that play they are going to be outnumbered on the other side and it really benefits the defense.
Not sure if others have noticed but they have been having Danny stand up on the opposite edge of Kikaha a few plays. If they are sliding to Kikaha when they are lined up like that it could mean that Danny is 1-1 with a tackle or even a TE.
It's a pretty simple but awesome wrinkle they are using. Obviously we all want to see Kikaha rush as much as possible, but you have to have some element of surprise at times and it can really be a fucking bitch for the offense.
The 4 game preseason is a wonderful thing. They get to put theories to the test in games where it doesn't matter. Either the Kikaha buck thing will work and be a part of the defense going forward or it won't. Either way...you know the rest.
Can we get to talking about the complexities of the "Go Huskies!" chant and how to improve it with the move of the student section to west end zone? Mods??!?!!??!?!!'zbbv